Adam Norwood

Tag: type

  • Type in the environment and in architecture

    As my office building at the University adds more and more permanent signage with zero consistency in typeface choice or other typographic consideration, this passage from Adrian Frutiger stood out:

    The reader encounters typefaces in other forms as well as in printing. His daily environment, in face his entire living space, is filled with typographic characters of all kinds.

    Unlike printed matter, with which the reader can bring the written word into his field of vision according to his own desire and choice, lettering on buildings is forced into view without restraint. Depending on its design, such lettering can provide an enrichment of the environment, almost in the sense of ornamentation, or, on the other hand, it can be ugly and therefore experienced as aggressive “pictorial noise”, inimical to the environment.

    In this connection, lettering can be regarded as two-dimensional architecture. This realisation makes it possible to appreciate the designing of public signs and notices from a completely new viewpoint, by integrating them into the total concept instead of simply “sticking them on” or “hanging them up”.

    — Adrian Frutiger, Type Sign Symbol p. 70

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  • Storefront Signs

    I recently finished Jan Tschichold’s Treasury of Alphabets and Lettering (1952), an incredible gallery of historical typographic examples alongside acerbic and insightful commentary by Tschichold, and this passage about storefront signs has popped into my head whenever driving by any given strip mall:

    In selecting a letter for a given task, beauty is not the only factor. The letter must also be appropriate to its purpose and surroundings. Most important, a distinction must be made between lettering that is to serve for a long period of time and lettering which is to serve only briefly. Frequently, we see lettering in architecture which, due to its flighty and cursive character, is suitable only for temporary and cheap signs. Many store front inscriptions, often executed in metal or neon lights, belong to the category of imitation brush lettering which is alien to their purpose. These are not only generally hard to read, but also often lack the spontaneous, fresh form which only a master can give them after long practice. They are lame, warped, and miserable. That which one is unprepared to do but insists on doing becomes trashy. And this trash despoils our cities today at every turn. Such pap-like brush lettering on our store fronts is out of place and poorly done. Store front lettering is an architecture, since it is a part of the building. It is destined for a long duration, often for decades, and should, therefore, always be correct, noble and beautiful. It is a waste of money to cast such pseudo brush lettering in expensive metal; it must be replaced in a few years as it becomes obsolete and visually offensive to everybody.

    This kind of lettering is either the result of the client’s “design” or conceived by incompetents who should choose another profession.

    […]

    Store and building signs are necessary, but they need not result in the evil they have become.

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  • Frutiger on Typography Design

    Every script contains the spirit of its age.

    Adrian Frutiger, Type Sign Symbol (p. 16), on how typography is fundamentally tied to the physical media from which a society creates its writing.
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  • On Typographic Novelty

    The good type designer knows that, for a new font to be successful, it has to be so good that only very few recognize its novelty. Stanley Morison, First Principles of Typography (as quoted in Adrian Frutiger’s Type Sign Symbol, p. 7)
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  • opentype.js
    Visit the source: opentype.js.org

    This is pretty cool: an OpenType parser written in JavaScript, enabling direct manipulation of a font’s letterforms and other typographical controls right in the browser (or node.js). I don’t think it would be used in production, but with type foundries cranking out OpenType variable fonts, it might be a fun playground / experimentation tool.

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  • Methods for Controlling Spacing in Web Typography | CSS-Tricks
    Visit the source: css-tricks.com

    A decent roundup of ways that you can fine-tune your word/character-level typography on the web — I don’t 100% agree with all of his suggested specific fixes, but knowing how one can make these adjustments in the first place is the important part. I might also add mention of the CSS overflow-wrap: break-word rule which has come up twice as something I needed in the last couple of projects I worked on (okay, that’s not really a spacing technique so much as a fix for overly-long words, but thought it worth mentioning alongside font tweaks)

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  • How I Came to Love the En Space
    Visit the source: www.theatlantic.com

    Not only is every letter an object, but every space between every letter is also an object. Every space between words, every space between lines—every bit of white space is an object. When typesetting, a printer has to think about negative space as something tangible.

    A nice essay from The Atlantic on the development of the humble metal (or wood) block known as the en, the invisible assistant of legibility in classic printed text.

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  • The Secret Font of Monkey Island

    A fan-made port of the pixel font built into the adventure game classics The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. As a bonus, a separate version is available that is properly kerned and hinted. (double bonus: opening the .ttf file in Font Book reveals that the demonstration string for the font reads “You fight like a dairy farmer!”)

    A post combining Lucasfilm Games and typography? Immediate reblog!

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  • History of the Typewriter Michael Winslow

    History of the Typewriter Recited by Michael Winslow. Definitely one of the more unexpected videos that I’ve seen bouncing around the web lately. A type history tour de force by everyone’s favorite human sound machine!

    (Via Kottke)

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  • Fun with Kerning

    Fun with kerning! I don’t 100% agree with all of their solutions (they do let you share your version in protest, at least!), but it’s a entertaining five-minute distraction if you’re a designer or type-friend, and the interface is slick.

    (Via pretty much every design blog and Twitter user this week…)

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